If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of a “bless your heart” – you probably know better than to take it literally. Like most southern sayings, the phrase isn’t typically referring to genuine concern over the state of one’s cardiovascular system, but is making a statement about a person’s character, behavior or circumstances using a set of *completely* unrelated words.
Here’s what we’re saying:
Madder than a wet hen: Angry, furious – someone whose feathers are ruffled.
Fixin’ to: You’re about to start something.
Slow as molasses in wintertime: You’re moving verrrrry slowly.
Raining cats + dogs: Thank goodness this is just referring to heavy rain.
A few weeks ago we asked you what southern sayings you use or hear around Greenville. We were truly not prepared for how many unique + awesome sayings y’all came up with. We wanted to share with you a few of our favorites:
#Answered
“‘This dog won’t hunt’, or really, this solution will not work.” – Tom B.
"’Running around like a chicken with its head cut-off’ - definition: chaos; too much to do on your to-do list.” – Laura W.
“‘I might ought to....’ or I should probably.” – Stephen L.
"’Losin’ my religion’ - I have lost my temper/my cool.” – Smyre H.
“‘You’uns’ (you all; all of you) – As in ‘Are you’ns going to the movies tonight?” – John G.
“‘Heavens to Betsy!’ – an exclamation of surprise, shock or fear.” – Shana O.
“I have lived in the South my whole life, but only in Greenville have I heard a garden hose called a ‘hose pipe.’” – Paula A.
“(Upon tasting something very delicious) ‘It makes me wanna slap my grandma.’” – Sherry P.
“My international friends did not understand when I told them one of my pets had ‘kicked the bucket.’” – Judy N.
“One of my middle school teachers would say, ‘If the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise.’ Usually this was in response to a student asking if we were still going to have a quiz the next day.” – Marissa S.
“I am from Connecticut, and have never heard the saying ‘might could’ before moving here (as in ‘I might could do that.’) As we would say to that up North – ‘Say what?’” – Cindy C.
“We mash a button rather than push one.” –The Smiths.
“How about instead of ‘over there’ it’s ‘over yonder?’” – Michael M.
“‘Finer than frog hair split four ways’ – I’m doing pretty good.” – David M.
“You reckon?” – Scott.
“‘Alabama chrome’ means duct tape.” –Scott A.
“Y’all, looks like it’s fixin’ to rain.” – Terry B.
“‘You think you’re Millie Lewis?’ This is an old one that dates back to the 1960s and means someone is better looking/better than they really are so prove it by trying to be a Millie Lewis model.” – John B.
